Conventional American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved watt-hour meters for electricity metering are designed for particular electrical energy distribution systems, such as single phase or polyphase systems. There are many different applications of distribution systems, each requiring a specific meter design, referred to as a “meter form.” This traditionally requires meter manufacturers to have many different electricity meters to satisfy all meter forms required by the different distribution system applications. All of these different meter forms have certain physical dimensions in common, even though they each contain different metering circuitry. The meter base, or chassis that all components are mounted onto, must have, by ANSI requirement, the same external dimensions for all meter forms. Some meter manufacturers employ a different meter base design for each different meter form, while other meter manufacturers use a meter base design that has many features to support multiple meter forms. The latter concept is more common in the industry, even though that approach results in a series of design compromises, for the sake of economy.
The foregoing background discussion is intended solely to aid the reader. It is not intended to limit the innovations described herein. Thus, the foregoing discussion should not be taken to indicate that any particular element of a prior system is unsuitable for use with the innovations described herein, nor is it intended to indicate that any element is essential in implementing the innovations described herein. The implementations and application of the innovations described herein are defined by the appended claims.